By Christina Root
Assistant News Editor
The St. Bonaventure University presidential search is scheduled to launch June 30, according to an email update from Robert Daugherty.
Daugherty, chair of the Board of Trustees, notified the campus community of the updates in the presidential search via email on Wednesday.
The update intended to inform the Bonaventure community on both the process of naming a search committee and how the board is preparing to lead a presidential search.
“Over the past month, I and various members of the board have been in discovery mode, dedicating countless hours to speaking with former chairs of the board, chairs of other presidential search committees, members of the most recent presidential search committee at SBU, and search consultants,” said Daugherty in his email update.
The search committee has spoken with current president Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F. and has reviewed search process materials from the Association of Governing Boards and the American Association of University Professors, said Daugherty.
“We have been surveying and consuming as broad of a landscape of information as possible.”
The committee will include 12 members. The Board reached a decision on the number after considering how the members will represent the perspectives of the Bonaventure community, said Daugherty.
“We want the committee to be clearly representative of stakeholders, in touch with our current student body, and knowledgeable of the future we’re working to create together,” he said.
Although some members of the committee have not been confirmed, Daugherty offered a description of its composition. According to board bylaws in compliance with New York State law, the committee must have a majority of members from the Board.
The committee will include seven Board members, including a Franciscan friar and a representative from the National Alumni Association Board. In addition to the Board members, two faculty members, one senior management council member, one student named in consultation with the Student Government Association and one person representing a multicultural perspective will also be included in the committee. The board expects to confirm and announce the names of the search committee in the first days of March, said Daugherty.
The update also included a working timeline, which states that the search will be publically launched by June 30.
“As the timeline above indicates, our assumption is we will not have a president selected and in place by July 31, 2016, when Sr. Margaret retires,” said Daugherty. “We are in the early stages of formulating a subcommittee of the board to address this anticipated need for an interim president for the intervening academic year.”
rootcm14@bonaventure.edu
